Ghazāla (Arabic: غزالة; died 696 AD near Kufa) was a leader of the Kharijite movement.

Biography

Ghazāla, born in Mosul, was the wife of Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani. Shabib rebelled against Umayyad rule, and Ghazala was actively at his side. She commanded troops, following in the footsteps of previous Muslim women like Juwayriyya bint al-Ḥārith at the Battle of Yarmuk.

In one battle, she made the Umayyad governor Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf flee, and take refuge in his palace in Kufa.^[1] As a result, a poem was composed shaming him for posterity:

You are a lion against me, but in the battle an ostrich which spreads its wings and hurries off on hearing the chirping of a sparrow. Why did you not go forth in the conflict and fight with Ghazala hand to hand? But no! Your heart fled from you (as if) with the wings of a bird.^[2]

In 696 AD (77 AH), after having controlled the city of Kufa for a day, Ghazāla led her male warriors in prayer as well as recited two of the longest chapters from the Quran during the prayer in the Mosque.^[1][3][4][5]

She was killed in battle, and her head was cut off for presenting it to Hajjaj. However, her husband Shabib sent a horseman who killed the carrier of his wife's head, and had a proper burial for it.